1. Assessment of Teacher Candidate
Reflection in E-Portfolios
A paper presented at the
2013 AACE EdMedia Conference Presentation
Daihong Chen
Andrew Lumpe
Dan Bishop

2. Teacher Reflection
 Reflection: an active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief
or supposed form of knowledge in light of the grounds supporting it and
future conclusions, to which it tends. (Dewey, 1933, p.43)
 Teacher reflection: spontaneous critical scrutiny of teachers’ beliefs
and knowledge pertaining to teaching and learning, as well as practice and
effects elicited by those beliefs and knowledge. (Sung, Chang, Yu, Chang, 2009)
 Teacher reflection is significantly correlated with effective instructional
practice, classroom organization, professional development, and teaching
efficacy. (Giovanelli, 2003; Sparks-Langer et al. 1990; York-Barr et al. 2001)
 Schön’s Two Time Frames (1983)
Reflection-in-Action: reflective action occurs simultaneously during
the teaching and learning. Modification is made immediately.
Reflection-on-Action: reflective action takes place before or after the
action according to a retrospection of the teacher.

3. E-portfolios
A promising and progressive approach for teacher preparation
(Granberg, 2010; Green, 2008; Kim, Ng, & Lim, 2010; Zawacki-Richter, Hanft, & Baecker; 2011)
Four pillars of e-portfolios (Barbera, 2009; Black & Willliam, 1998):
1. Metacognition
2. Authentic tasks
3. Contextual feedback
4. Student responsibility
Three main purposes of using e-portfolios in teacher education:
1. Contribute to constructivist learning
(Mair, 2012; Maher & Gerbic, 2009; Meeus, Questier, & Derks, 2006; Ritzhaupt, Ndoye, & Parker, 2010);
1. Provide summative and formative assessment
(Barrett, 2007; Granberg, 2010; Luchoomun, McLuckie & van Wesel, 2010; Ritzhaupt, Ndoye, & Parker, 2010);
2. Showcase teacher candidates’ achievements and competencies
(Granberg, 2010; Johnson-Leslie, 2009; Lumsden, 2007).

4. E-portfolios & Teacher Reflection
 Reflective writing in e-portfolios is proposed as a
contributor for preservice teachers’ constructivist learning
and professional preparation (Tzeng & Chen, 2012).
 Web 2.0 portfolios may serve as effective vehicles for
fostering critical reflection (Lumpe & Wicks, 2011; Tan, 2006; Godwin-
Jones, 2008; Bartlett-Bragg, 2003; Oner, & Adadan, 2011; Pechone, Pigg, Chung, and
Souviney, 2005).
 Levels of quality in reflection vary and most reflective
writing remains at a low level (Ayan, & Seferoglu, 2011; Bauer & Dunn
,2003; Lai & Calandra, 2010; Parkes & Kajder, 2010; Seng, 2004).
 The depth of reflectivity in e-portfolios remains to be
examined and developed (Carney, 2006; Delandshere &Arens 2003).

5. Instruments for classifying reflectivity
Sparks-Langer et al. (1990, p.27) :
(1) no descriptive language
(2) a simple, layperson description
(3) events labeled with appropriate terms
(4) explanations with traditional or personal preferences given as the rationale
(5) explanation with principle or theory given as the rationale
(6) explanation with principle/theory and consideration of contextual factors
(7) explanation with consideration of ethical, moral or political issues
Hatton and Smith (1995) Kember et al. (2000, 2008) Ward and McCotter (2004)
descriptive writing
descriptivereflection
dialogic reflection
critical reflection
habitual action
understanding
reflection
critical reflection
routine
technical
dialogic
transformative

6. Current Study- Context
 Graduate Teacher Preparation Program
 One year period
 All teaching candidates maintained a bPortfolio on
www.wordPress.com
 Random sample of 50% of bPortfolios (n=41)
6

7. Using bPortfolios
 Initial set up of bPortfolio and training
 Reflective posts made during courses/internships
 Posts linked to standards via categories
 Artifacts include text files, A/V, or web links
 Meta-reflections served as summative posts
 Peer and instructor feedback via comments link
 Summative evaluation by faculty at end of program
7

8. Tags for
Individual
Post
Categories
(typically program
standards)
Reflective
Post for
Weekly
Module
Student
Generated
Title
Optional
Graphics,
Links, etc. Comments for
Peer or Teacher
Feedback

9. 9

10. “Doing bPortfolios”
 10 Questions about bPortfolios
 Assessing bPortfolios
 Executive Summary of bPortfolios
 Sloan C Effective Practice Award 2011
 Sample student bPortfolios
 http://hamiltonlauren.wordpress.com/
 http://rollis1.wordpress.com
10

11. Research Questions
 What is the level of reflection in preservice teacher
candidates’ e-portfolios?
 What text analysis variables predict the level of
reflection?
Methods
 Blog coding for level of reflection
 Text analytics via www.semantria.com
 Descriptive statistics
 Multiple regression

12. Coding Blog Reflection Level
Two coders coded all posts. Reached 85% interrater agreement.
Adapted from Kember, 2000, 2009; and Lai & Calandra, 2010
12
• An activity is performed automatically1 – Habitual Action
• Learning occurs without personal/practical application2 - Understanding
• Self-centered concerns3 - Routine Reflection
• Response to a situation without change
4 - Technical Reflection
• Focus on student learning
5 - Dialogic Reflection
• Focus on change in professional practice
6 - Transformative
Reflection
• A major shift in personal perspective/beliefs over time7 - Critical Reflection

13. Text Analytics of Blog Text
 Form of learner analytics
 Used www.semantria.com Excel Plug-in
 Based on semantic linguistic algorithms from
http://www.lexalytics.com/
 Text submitted to Semantria servers via API
 All blog text analyzed for
 Themes- noun phrases with contextual relevance scores. “What
are they writing about?”
 Document Sentiment – positive or negative tone of text
 Facets – “Meta Themes” which rely on subject-verb-object parsing.
13

14. 14
.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
1 - habitual
action
2- understanding 3 - routine
reflection
4 - technical
reflection
5 - dialogic
reflection
6 -
transformative
reflection
7 - critical
reflection
Percent 10.4 26.5 24.3 14.9 9.3 11.7 2.9
Reflection Level of Coded Blog Posts
• 36.9% of posts were non-reflective (orange bars)
• 63.1% were reflective (red bars)

15. Findings and Discussion
 Higher level reflections occurred in the later writings. Blogs may promote
reflection.
 The teacher candidates’ reflection tends to focus on self-centered concerns (e.g.
time management issues, workload, personal emotion, and recognition for
personal success).
 Teacher candidates’ were not giving much attention to the learning of students.
 The candidates spent little time writing about changes or major shifts in
professional practice.
 Most teacher candidates posted two entries per week during their internship. The
average number of blog entries was 78 with a range of 35 -122.
 The average number of unique facets (meta-themes) was 17.8 per candidate with a
range of 15-33.
 The overall score of bPortfolio document sentiment or emotional tone was +.26 on
a scale of -1.0 to +1.0 (mostly positive).

16. Findings and Discussion of Text Analysis
F = 2.8, p = .03. The adjusted R square was .29, with 29% of the variance in blog
reflection explained by the model variables.
Variable B Std.
Error
Beta t Sig.
Blog Themes
-.002 .001 -.494 -2.426 .023
Blog Facets
.000 .000 .544 2.645 .014
WEST-E certification content
test -.026 .008 -.566 -3.225 .004
Blog Sentiment
-3.468 2.2 -.282 -1.56 .131
Table 1: Variables in the Regression Model Predicting Reflection Level in the bPortfolios

17. Conclusions
 Blogging portfolios may be an effective tool for
fostering professional reflective practice.
 Teacher candidates’ blogs displayed relatively low
levels of reflection.
 Preservice teachers may not develop well-grounded
beliefs and concepts of student-centered learning.
 Assessment and analysis of teacher reflection in e-
portfolios could be an effective means to reveal
preservice teachers’ beliefs.
 There is a need for training on reflective writing and
ongoing assessment and support. 17

18. Recommendations
 Professional preparation programs should consider using web-
based blogging portfolios to enhance reflective practice.
 Professionals utilizing such portfolios should be given
structured training on reflective writing via blogs.
 Efforts on exploring attributors influencing reflective writing
and strategies for promoting reflective writing are
recommended in future study.
 Provide effective strategies to transfer teacher candidates’
reflection from self-centered concerns to professional
competencies directly related to student learning.
18

19. Comments or Questions?
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